Ministry of Commerce & Industry
A day-long seminar on Patent Cooperation Treaty held in Kolkata Patent filing by Indians spikes up in 2018
Kolkata, June 26, 2019
A day-long seminar on the Patent Cooperation Treaty  was organised by the Indian Patent Office  in collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organization in Kolkata today. The Central Government in its endeavour towards a “Creative India: Innovative India” is reaching out to various cities to spread awareness amongst the creators and innovators in respect of protecting the Intellectual Property  and innovations globally through the Patent Cooperation Treaty . Today’s seminar was organised by IPO, a subordinate office under Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade under Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry with support from the Government of West Bengal and in association with Assocham and Cell for IPR Promotion and Management . This is the third seminar being organised in Kolkata, after similar events in Dehra Dun and Lucknow and another seminar will be organized at Bhubaneswar following today’s event.
Dr. K. S. Kardam, Sr. Joint Controller, IPO delivered the inaugural address and later deliberated on the topic ‘Use of the PCT – National Perspective’. He said, a general increase in patent filing was observed last year when approximately 50,000 applications for registration of patents were received. The MSME sector registered about 55 percent of these applications. He said, IITs, CSIR and DRDO along with a few private organisations figure in the list of biggest patent applicants in the country. He said, CSIR figures in the world-wide list of top government and public research organisations that file for patents. Indian MSMEs need to be made aware about patents because in its absence, they are set to lose business, said Dr. K.S. Kardam. He stated, India ranks 13 in PCT filings in the global list.
Notably, Patent Cooperation Treaty  was signed on 19 June, 1970 and was implemented in 25 January, 1978. India joined PCT as its 98th member country on 7 December, 1998. Dr. Kardam said, PCT assists applicants in seeking patent protection internationally for their inventions and facilitates public access to a wealth of technical information relating to those inventions. Speaking with regard to the National IPR Policy 2016, he said, it ensures a balanced IP ecosystem in the country. The Union Government has recently taken up the issue of including a chapter on IP Rights in NCERT syllabus to create awareness in the young minds. He informed and added that IPO has taken certain steps to increase efficiency like augmentation of manpower, facilitate legislative amendments in Patents and Trademark Rules to benefit applicants and ensure transparency. Digital initiatives like e-filing and starting of IPO mobile app as well as expedited examination process to especially benefit start-ups and international applicants who select the Indian Patent Office as the ISA or IPA have also added to the benefits..
The dignitaries in today’s seminar included Mr. Allal Aloui, Head, PCT Technical Cooperation Section in WIPO; Mr. Mougamadou Abidine, Head, PCT Operations Section 1, PCT Operations Division, WIPO.
AM/SC
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